


Thanks, Covid

by hutchabelle



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Autumn, F/M, Pandemics, Sex, Wedding Fluff, Wedding Planning, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:08:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27835795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hutchabelle/pseuds/hutchabelle
Summary: A pandemic changes everything except how much Peeta and Katniss want to get married.
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 6
Kudos: 66
Collections: Seasons of Everlark— Fall 2020





	Thanks, Covid

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been cautious about including the current global crisis in any of my writing, but this seemed like an opportunity to turn it on its head. I hope this bit of fluffy/angsty/slightly smutty Everlark helps us all get through another day. Much love, and stay safe! <3
> 
> Written for Seasons of Everlark, Autumn 2020. Prompt: Autumn wedding

“That. Was. Amazing.”

Peeta Mellark’s face splits into a lazy grin as his fiancée pants next to him, attempting to recover her breath after their marathon session of athletic sex. He’d feel bad for blowing off work and spending his Friday afternoon in the bedroom, but 2020’s been a shit year. He deserves something good, and making love to Katniss Everdeen is about as wonderful as it gets.

“Thanks, Covid.”

“Covid, huh?” he responds. “Not your man who just gave you the dicking down of your life? I’m wounded.”

“Dicking down… Lord,” she snorts. “So romantic.”

“Nothing’s too good for my lady.”

She smacks him lightly on his chest with the back of her hand, too exhausted from what they’d just done to pack any punch. “What I meant was that we’d already be an old married couple if this damn pandemic hadn’t happened. We can thank the delayed wedding for the great sex of the engaged.”

“I think, sweetheart, that we’d still be in the honeymoon phase and fucking like bunnies, so maybe I want to blame the pandemic for keeping us from having _more_ sex.”

“I would die if we were having more sex. You’re insatiable.”

Peeta rolls over and leans down to kiss her. Brushing hair back from her sweaty forehead, he kisses the tip of her nose before brushing against her lips. “I’m madly in love with you, and I can’t get enough. I can’t wait to marry you.”

Katniss responds by opening her mouth and allowing him to sweep inside. They make out for several minutes, losing themselves in wet heat and breathy confessions and bared feelings. Peeta’s considering ramping things up again when Katniss ends their kiss and tucks her face into his neck. He’s in serious need of a shower.

“Why _are_ we waiting, anyway?”

Peeta cuddles her against his chest and kisses the top of her head. “Why are we waiting for what?”

“To get married.”

“Well, I don’t know if you remember this, but we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. Destination weddings in the Caribbean don’t really work when there’s an international travel ban.”

“Well, yeah,” she sighs. “The dream wedding might not be in the cards, but maybe just getting married. I hate not being your wife. We should be seven months married by now, and there’s no end in sight to this thing. Do you really want to keep waiting? I don’t.”

“I think that depends,” he muses.

“On?”

“On whether or not we keep getting to have this amazing sex.”

“Peeta Mellark!” she screeches. “You are the absolute worst.”

When she attempts to wriggle away from him, he tickles her sides and laughs as she squirms against him. He ends up on top of her, holding her down and marking her neck with open-mouthed kisses.

“Would I still be the worst if I said we should get married next weekend?”

She freezes and blinks at him. “Are you serious?”

“As a global pandemic.”

“You’re okay without your family being there?”

“I hear there’s this thing called Zoom now. Or facetime. Or…I don’t know. A recording of it. Whatever. I really just want to be married to you. You’re right. I’m absolutely done waiting.”

“Then yes,” she breathes. “Yes, yes, yes. I do. Forever and always and twice on Tuesday.”

They sealed the deal with another kiss (and maybe a little bit more) before they turned their attention to planning their wedding. Again.

****

Peeta shifts from foot to foot and adjusts his tie for the hundredth time. He’s nervous, which is stupid, because he loves Katniss Everdeen with every fiber of his being. They’re madly in love, almost a fairy tale story, and they’ve lived together after a respectably appropriate engagement and a long-term relationship. There is no question they’ll make it, absolutely no doubt in his mind that they have what it takes. There’s no reason to be nervous, but he’s still anxious. It’s a pretty big day.

“You ready?”

Peeta turns to Judge Undersee, the man who’ll perform the ceremony, and nods. Following him out to the space between the trees, Peeta takes off his mask and shoves it in his pocket. Katniss and Peeta will be the only two without them, but they had decided it was important to see the other’s faces when they exchanged vows. Taking his place, Peeta blinks a few times at the riot of fall colors, the leaves ruffling in the breeze and occasionally dropping to flutter in the air and settle on the ground at his feet. The Caribbean’s got nothing on this.

Soft classical music wafts from a stereo, and he holds his breath. Katniss steps into sight, her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders under intricate braids on the crown of her head. The dress, a vintage cream lace gown she’d found in a thrift shop drapes over her frame, accentuating her breasts and hips in a way that heats his insides. She strips off her masks and beams at him, and he thinks his heart might explode. She tucks it under her bouquet, a colorful bunch of autumnal flowers they bought at the floral department in the grocery store the night before and tied with a spool of orange ribbon. She’s a vision, and he’s so grateful she wants to marry him more than desiring a perfect ceremony.

He hears the murmur of comments from those on the computer screen where their family and friends are gathered to watch them pledge their lives to each other. Prim is openly weeping while his mother has a pinched look on her face. His older brother has a sign that says, “I’m the hot one,” which caused him to chuckle when he first saw it, but now his eyes won’t leave the sight of his fiancée drifting toward him.

“You look beautiful,” he breathes when she stands before him. She reaches for him with her right hand, and they chuckle over her awkwardness with the flowers. They hadn’t thought about that part when they decided to do this without her sister attending. He’ll just take them when she needs both her hands to put his ring on him. It doesn’t matter, as long as they both have gold bands when the ceremony finishes.

Judge Undersee speaks, but Peeta doesn’t hear a thing. He’s too caught up in the moment. He takes in the feel of the sun warming his shoulder as it filters through the trees, the smell of the heat of a late fall afternoon, the sound of her voice as she recites her vows, the feel of his throat clogging with emotion so that he can barely get out the words promising to bind his life to hers. They exchange rings, shifting the flowers back and forth, and then he leans in, reaching for his wife and lowering his lips to hers.

They’ve kissed a million times, but this one… This one is something special. Their first as a married couple. He deepens it, and he can hear their family and friends cheering them on as they lose themselves in each other.

“I love you so much,” he says when they break apart, his eyes blurry with moisture. “Thank you for marrying me.”

“Thank you for being someone I want to marry,” she replies softly, and he knows exactly what she means. She’d been hurt too much before he’d met her, and it had taken months before she decided to give him a chance. He’d been stubborn and eventually broken through her reluctance to open herself up to someone, and it had been worth every frustration and wound he’d experienced to get to this moment.

He dropped his forehead to hers, closing his eyes and breathing in her scent, woodsy and feminine in a way that made his skin tingle. “You sure you don’t mind missing out on all the fanfare? No cake, no toasts, no dancing, no tossing the bouquet?”

“Too late now,” she teases and shakes her head. “No, I don’t mind. I’m your wife now, and I’m over the moon you’re my husband. Besides, you make great cakes. I expect one later this week.”

They need to address their friends and family soon, but that can wait. For now, the only thing he cares about is sharing this moment with Katniss. As he leans in for another kiss, the wind blows and a shower of leaves falls around them. It’s better than rice or birdseed or bubbles or anything else because it’s theirs. Thanks to Covid.


End file.
